Explorer. Born in Rippingale, England, he served as explorer Ernest Shackleton's second in command in the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Nimrod Expedition, of 1907 to 1909. The expedition set off from New Zealand for Antarctica in an attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole. Plagued with difficulties, the party eventually split. Expedition members Shackleton, Adams, surgeon Eric Marshall, and Petty Officer Frank Wild headed south from their base for the Pole, a 1700-mile trek; while teammates led by Edgeworth David set out on a 1260 mile journey towards the South Magnetic Pole. The Pole party quickly fell victim to hunger. Four weeks out they shot the weakest of the Manchurian ponies which served as their pack animals, and ate some of the meat. Adams, suffering from toothache, let a teammate extract it without the use of equipment. On November 26, they passed the previous furthest south record set by explorer Robert Scott in 1902. In early December two more ponies were shot, after which they started eating the pony grain rations. They were weak from a lack of food and their hands and feet were always near frostbite, several blizzards hampered their efforts. To continue, it was decided, meant death. On January 4, 1909 they took the Union Jack, and a brass cylinder containing stamps and documents to mark their farthest south: 88°23'S, longitude 162°, 97 miles from the South Pole. Shackleton, Adams, Marshall, and Wild were the first humans to cross the Trans-Antarctic mountain range and set foot on the South Polar Plateau. Their Furthest South record would stand until explorer Roald Amundsen's successful expedition to the South Pole in December 1911. (bio by: Iola)